Abstract
Lutein and Neurodevelopment in Preterm Infants.
Highlights
Carotenoids are pigments naturally occurring in plants, in dark-green leafy vegetables such as raw spinach and cooked kale, and they have many functions in human tissues
Lutein is the dominant carotenoid found in adult and in infant brain especially in the neocortex and in the neural retina, diet intake is needed because it cannot be synthesized in the body (Costa et al, 2013)
Lutein may improve neuroretinal maturation in preterm infants and it is predominant in brain development; these findings confirm that lutein is important for neurodevelopment in the infant but the mechanism is not completely clear (Lieblein-Boff et al, 2015)
Summary
Carotenoids are pigments naturally occurring in plants, in dark-green leafy vegetables such as raw spinach and cooked kale, and they have many functions in human tissues. Lutein is the dominant carotenoid found in adult and in infant brain especially in the neocortex and in the neural retina, diet intake is needed because it cannot be synthesized in the body (Costa et al, 2013). Preterm infants have been deprived from carotenoid transfer during the last weeks of pregnancy and after birth the only sources are breast milk or oral supplementation.
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